I consider myself to be a family history archivist, not a digital content creator. As an archivist, I've been pretty hesitant to edit historical pictures beyond the basics: cropping, rotating, or an occassional straightening. This is despite owning Lightroom and using it for own personal photography projects.
I try hard to find the original picture if available. When I can't, I try and start with the best copy that I can locate. Then, I very carefully scan with the highest settings and save initially as high-quality TIFFs comparing carefully the digitial and print versions. I tell myself "if this photo was destroyed tomorrow, did I get the best reproduction possible?" Properly archived, I can then start sharing the best possible jpeg version, keeping the character as is (sun-damaged, wrinkled, torn, or finger-printed).
But, I had an important photo of my great-grandparent Mann's wedding. The best print had some oily fingerprints. After the initially scans showed how compromised the photo was, I tried to clean the image two years ago with no luck.
And so, I've just been holding on to it and not sharing, hoping that eventually a "cleaner" version will surface.
That is until today.
I decided to ask AI to fix the photo for me. I ran the image through ChatGPT, Lightroom, Ancestry's memory tools, and Microsoft CoPilot. The only app that accurately (and quickly) handled the fingerprint with no intervention by me was ChatGPT.
Compare for yourself.
Here's the Original scan.
Here's the ChatGPT version with the instructions "fix photo".
Picture details
Wedding party of John & Freda Mann, December 1922, Pipestone, Minnesota
Left to right: Alfred (Al) Krabbenhoft; Johann (John) Mann; Freda Krabbenhoft Mann; Amelia Mann
Al was Freda's brother; Amelia was John's sister.
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